BILL MALLONEE/VICTORY GARDEN

Paste Music Magazine, in a poll conducted by both writers and artists, listed Bill Mallonee as 65 in their "100 Greatest Living Songwriters Poll." Mallonee, (pronounced MAL-O-KNEE) the lyrical and musical source behind the late Vigilantes of Love, started playing music in Athens in the late 80's. Mallonee learned guitar quickly and the post-punk-pop of the La's, XTC, Joy Division, the Clash and Echo and the Bunnymen. Great college scene bands that passed through Athens, Georgia during that time were Athen's own R.E.M., the dbs (with the great Chris Stamey and Peter Hosapple), Mitch Easter's 'Let's Active,' the Bongos and Tommy Keane: these were also big influences. Each of those bands proudly wove indebtedness to the first "British Invasion" into their musical flags.
Still, his deeper love for Dylan and Neil Young's music and approach left and indelible mark on his writing and vocal delivery. "Being a son of the South, it's hard not to be surrounded by the beauty of things fractured and incongruous...that's the stuff of real songs...and that's what I learned on the road doing 180 shows a year from 1995 till about 2002...What came out was my own version of what I deeply loved in the work of those two." [Dylan and Neil Young]
Mallonee's love for all things folk-rock and raw-boned acoustic won out over these early influences. He has visited the sons and daughters of the British Invasion on occasion...(he tours about 60 shows a year in the United Kingdom alone) but the no safety-net experience of life on the road left a profound imprint on Mallonee's way of looking at his life and the world around him..."The work of folks like Flannery O'Conner, Thomas Merton, and Fredrick Buechner helped me make sense out the road, while the terrain viewed from the inside of a van for 16 years and over 24 albums by the Vigilantes of Love seemed to lend itself more to the heart of Americana music." He says,"I tend to be a 'word guy,' always hoping it'll resonate with others...." Whether writing Americana or trippier stuff, Mallonee seems equally at home with both. He says, "I think there were always huge connections between the Brits and their affinities for '60's west Coast psychedelia...the Byrds being an obvious example."
With Vigilantes of Love behind him, Bill is focusing on the solo artist gig. He's back to being "just a guy from a college band from Athens, GA." He's 8 albums into his solo career (he's been doing about 2 a year since 2002), touring and performing with his wife, keyboardist and vocalist, Muriah Rose.
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